Yes, an update. Fear the day when I actually make an update to my story profile on this site! I don't really have too much to say right now, except that I'm writing the outline for each chapter on paper and alternating it as I'm actually typing it. I think this is a good idea since I don't feel as bad if I want to change something.
Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda is in all rights, the owner and writer of One Piece and all its characters as well as any setting or idea that appears in his manga and possibly the anime. I am simply borrowing his characters and such for my own and others' amusement. Any critical reaction one may have in reading this is neither the author's nor any other reader's fault.
Chapter One
"Hey kid, get over here!"
The rampant scent of alcohol filled the air as the large man spat out those words towards a boy wandering around the streets. However, despite his efforts, he only managed to get a turn of the boy's head in his general direction before continuing on his way into town.
"Oi! I'm talking to you, the brat with the straw hat!" he breathed out another musty mist of alcohol, attempting to follow suite of anyone who dared to ignore him, which probably wasn't the best idea when under the influence of several hundreds of liters of alcohol in your stomach. He staggered slightly under his own weight, keeping himself balanced against one of the telephone poles. 'N-not again…' the effects of a night of drinking finally hit him and he collapsed right on the road. Anyone who was within 2 kilometers could've heard the crashing of the man who easily weighed about 350 pounds but if that said boy in the straw hat heard it, he only chose to ignore it. The last thing he needed was yet another old man on his tail asking for money to buy another drink. There was no way he'd hand it over anyway. That money was for one thing and one thing only.
'MEAT!' the wondrous and glorious sight of steaming meat finally matched the smell of roast that had been tickling his nose for the past hour. Luffy quickly bounded off the streets and in the direction of the stall, thinking about the sizzling sound of the food that only heightened his hunger, the drooling sauce dripping off from the edges of the object, the soft yet rough sensation of it in between his teeth, the 'Closed' sign that sat hanging over the wooden beam, the…
Wait a minute.
"NANI?! It can't be closed! It can't! I NEED MEAT!" With the sight of his goal out of reach, all the teen could do was settle himself for leaning his head on the window and staring at the storage of dishes inside, ignoring the many strange stares that he received in the process. His stomach growled yet again as he took in the scenario of being so close, yet so far away from actual edible food. Eventually after many minutes of the staring contest, Luffy resolved to backing away from the window and taking a fighting stance in front of the door on the other end. If he couldn't get to the meat, he was plenty content in breaking the window and forcing his way through. However, just as he rose his fist and brought it forward with the intention of knocking down the door, a dark shadow suddenly ran in front of him in a mess of sweat and clothes.
Unfortunately, it ended with the shadowy figure receiving the backend of the blow, resulting in the large parcel in his hand to fly into the air as the man could only fall to the ground in complete shock. Slightly annoyed by the disturbance of his mission, Luffy failed to notice the wooden box when it fell flat on his head in a loud 'thud'. Catching it before it landed on the ground in frustration, he could only begin to wonder, while rubbing his aching head, why such a weak person would run in front of someone who looked like he was about to throw a punch, especially one from himself. Then, a thought hit him.
'What if…whatever this Ossan was running with is filled with MEAT?!' Luffy quickly recoiled and proceeded to open the small chest to see what was inside.
"Give that back, you thief!" Just as Luffy's eye managed to trail over the contents of the box, it was snatched out of his hands in a similar manner to candy being snatched from a little boy. It was then that the woman, who was responsible for the double-stealing of the container, suddenly threw a high upper punch towards his head, missing by only an inch as Luffy instinctively stepped back to dodge the blow with one hand on top of his hat to keep it in place. Maybe the whole world was just against the poor boy finding any meat.
"Hey! What did you do that for, Blue-haired lady?!" The teen, by habit, stood in another fighting stance, eyes unwavering as he turned to where the slightly older woman should be standing. Again, shouldbe standing. 'Hey, why's that lady running away?! She even took my meat with her!' The figure of the girl in the distance disappeared from view as more people pushed themselves down the street to get to their destinations. After a few moments, Luffy finally withdrew the stance he took and followed it up by crossing his arms over his chest while pouting. However, this new position did not last long when a disturbing grumble was heard from his stomach.
He brought his crossed arms and rested his hands against his empty belly, before turning in the direction of the store window yet again only to see that the piles of meat inside were now gone.
"HUH?! Meat doesn't just disappear! Where'd it go?!"
"Sorry little boy, but our bar's closed." Bringing out the little amount of strength left within him, the boy in the straw hat turned to see another dark green haired woman which looked to be about 10 years or so older, peering at him. "Besides, aren't you under-aged?"
"I know that the restaurant's closed, but I need meat!! It just disappeared into thin air…hmm…" His left hand touched his chin as his face bore the expression of thought. "I got it! It must be mystery meat, right?"
"Restaurant…?" The woman raised an eyebrow at him before closing her eyes with a slight chuckle escaping her lips, "Sorry, but that would be my fault. We can't just leave food sitting there for passerbies to break in and steal. The last thing we need is some raging teen busting his way through the door and eating all of the food we have on storage, right?" Forgetting all about what he tried to do only minutes before, Luffy grinned widely at the woman on the other side of the street.
"Shishishi! Yeah, that would be pretty bad!" The moment of his laugh filling the streets could only be ruined when his stomach sounded in irritation yet again. "Uggh! Listen Lady; do you have any food with you?"
The older girl could only smile in slight amusement as she watched Luffy turn around yet again and stare at the window as if somehow, that would bring the teleporting meat back. It wasn't like her to give away free food, nor talk to anyone randomly whenever she wanted to, but somehow, this boy had interested her. No, not only because of his character, but because she had not failed to see the stunt he pulled off earlier without so much as a care in the world but his empty stomach. Something in her mind told her that this behavior wasn't only just a phase he was going through due to hunger.
"I'll tell you something, I'm the owner of this bar here. If you'd like, I'm sure you'll be glad if I offer you some of that meat that you want so badly."
"What? Really?!" Luffy wasted no time in spinning around to face her with an even larger grin upon his face. "Thanks a lot lady! I'm Luffy by the way, what about you?"
"It's nothing, really. You can just call me Makino."
---
The harsh rays of the sun blinded a white structure of a building which sat like stone on the grounds of a seemingly vast neighborhood. The structure looked to be about 2 or 3 floors with an old-styled roof but relatively clean walls. Large blue letters were printed on a plate at the front of the mansion, labeling it as 'East Blue Secondary School'. Little distant figures could be seen struggling in and out of the building, either in rush or leisurely taking their time.
Noises of socializing rung through the air as Coby dodged through the many of the bodies of teenagers either rushing to their first class, or talking to their friends about skipping. Duck, swing, run, step to the side; he was used to this tedious routine and barely cared whether it made him look bad, at least it still got him through the hallway unnoticed. Unnoticed was all he wanted, as it meant avoiding the possibility of running into anyone that he preferred not to deal with for now.
Unfortunately, bad things happened to good people, Coby realized, as the tip of his nose crashed against the second body of someone who was very easily a couple feet taller than him. Being his height, it wasn't saying too much, but when he recovered from the hit only to come face to face with the black cloth of a dress suit, his eyes widened upon realizing who it was. The thick smell of smoke coming from its source that reached the short boy's nose could only confirm his suspicion.
"Oi, watch where you're going sh*tty four-eyes." The much taller teen turned only his head, inhaling on the cigarette one last time before bringing it to the height of his torso with his fingers. His blond hair was covering the eye which was facing the pink-haired boy, overall making him appear a lot scarier. Now don't get me wrong, smoking wasn't allowed in school, but after a simple encounter with two of the students who were pretty keen on the idea, the teachers had chosen to let their behavior pass. Quite depressing for some, but most people in the class of the student who hadn't graduated had gotten accustomed to the air quality, Coby being one of them.
"I-I'm sorry, Sanji-san. I promise not t-" Before he could finish the "to do it again", one of the students behind him accidentally knocked the already fidgeting boy over. A loud 'crash!' was heard throughout the school as the white and navy colored lunch box that was in Coby's hands flew into the air, opened with a rough protest and bounced off the ground a couple feet away. Meanwhile, his lunch of a cheese sandwich with sauce and his oh so precious pudding travelled as well, landing quite unpleasantly as their gooey contents splattered in the air…
Right on top of Sanji.
What had happened next wasn't too hard to figure out. Silence filled the atmosphere of the air as all either of them could be thankful for was that there weren't too many people who happened to wander the hallways half-an-hour before class. The students that were there could only look on in shock and run away to the closest classroom, knowing fully well what happened whenever Sanji had gotten mad. Let's just say that the hallway would not only need some cleaning up after, but also some major renovations. The only ones that remained in the hallway at that moment was Sanji and Coby themselves and two of Sanji's muscular companions; one who wore sunglasses and the other who had a partially shaved head.
"O-Oi, Sanji! Calm down; remember what happened the last time you trashed the nurse's office?!" The one with the shaved head quickly brought up his hands in a gesture to calm down the blonde, only for him to be ignored as that said blonde threw his cigarette to the side and began marching towards the boy on the ground. Sanji calmly bent down before lifting the now frozen Coby up by the collar of his shirt until they were eye-to-eye, which was pretty darn high for anyone that was watching.
"Four-eyes, let me tell you something." Out of habit, he had the urge to blow smoke into his face to scare him, but stopped when he realized that the cigarette was no longer in his mouth. "Just be grateful that Nami-san wasn't here to see thi-"
"YATTA! I thought I was going to be late for sure! Who knew that this place was so far away?!"
Groundless laughter was next to fill the halls as the tension of Sanji's speech was ruined. All four heads turned towards the sound, as a kid with short black hair and a straw hat dangling from the backside of his neck walked past the door and into the school. Upon seeing the sight of a pink-haired boy being held up by a swirly eye-browed man in a suit, Luffy finally stopped his laughter and replaced it with a confused look. "Ah, am I interrupting something?"
Resting Coby back to the ground, Sanji reached into his pocket and took out a second cigarette before lighting it. With his fear in place of any strength he had to stand up, Coby immediately fell to the ground to temporarily escape from the gaze of one of the school's most popular boys. For now, his attention was turned towards the strange black-haired teen.
"Yeah, you must be new here." he closed his match and gracefully placed it back into the pocket of his suit.
"Yup, sure am!"
"Ah, I guess that explains a lot. Now, I'll give you some advice and suggest that you head for your first class and pretend that this never happened."
"Hmm…?" Luffy raised an eyebrow in confusion while tilting his head to the side with his index finger supporting it. "Why would I do that? This did happen, didn't it?" Sanji frowned.
"That's why I said to pretend that it never happened."
"Shishishi! Well I guess that makes sense…" the grin on his face suddenly subsided into a frown, matching the one on Sanji's face, "No thanks though; I'd like to keep my memory of what happened here."
"Oh? And what exactly did happen here?"
"Well…it looks to me that you were just about to beat up that," at this, Luffy pointed in Coby's general direction, "guy over there."
"Ah. I'm glad that you're smarter than you look."
"Really? Thanks!" Either ignoring it or oblivious to the insult included with the remark, Luffy grinned again. "You should probably clean yourself off by the way! Trust me; you should at least make yourself smell like meat if you're going to go for that whole 'food' look." He suddenly crossed his arms and bore an annoyed expression. "I've tried it once too, but it didn't work."
'This guy…' it was evident that the new student was now getting on more than just one of Sanji's nerves. His cigarette easily broke in half from the pressure of his teeth against it as his usually calm eyes showed the emotion of both baffled, shocked and anger. Now, it wasn't everyday that one of the students, Coby nonetheless, had pushed him far enough to the edge for him to snap. It wasn't every month when a new student would barge into the hallway right in the middle of it, and it definitely wasn't every lifetime when that said student ended up being someone like this.
"S-Sanji!" this time, it was Carne's turn to try to stop the rampaging blonde, but before he could even utter anything more than his name, the teen in the suit disappeared from the spot he was previously standing in. It would've taken a relatively trained eye to be able to see him as anything more than a blur of black, shooting towards Luffy like a blind bat catching its pray. Stopping in front of him for only half a second, Sanji swiftly brought up his leg and twisted his body around as the momentum sent a blast of air that travelled behind his shot like a tail.
At that moment, a loud ringing of a bell filled the air. The sound almost seemed to signal the stop of Sanji's kick as it rested only a few centimeters away from the side of Luffy's head. Quickly following a second or two later was the breath of wind that blew against his dark hair and the straw hat that hung upon his back.
Not a flinch.
It took a moment for Sanji to contemplate whether or not the boy was either anticipating that he'd stop or if he was simply frozen in fear. Seeing the calm frown on Luffy's face and his still-crossed arms, he rested his leg back to the ground and lit another cigarette before beckoning to his friends.
"Oi, Patty, Carne; let's go." Neither of the shocked three who were watching the scene unfold acknowledged any movement until the cook nudged the side of his shoulder against Patty's arm as he passed by. The two muscular men wasted no time in following behind him with the occasional complaint about how troublesome he was becoming as well as whispers about how the straw-hat boy was lucky this time. Coby, on the other hand, still remained on the floor, fear and shock keeping him frozen in spot until Luffy walked up to him with a expecting grin on his face.
"Yo! I'm Luffy, nice to meet you!" Coby had to look up at him to double check that he was actually talking to him and not somebody else.
"M-My name is Coby." The new student shot out his hand as if to shake but when Coby took a hold of it, he gasped in fear as he was pulled up to his feet instead. "You're the new student, r-right?"
"Yup, but why are you fidgeting so much? Is it because of that curly eye brow guy?" He stopped when Coby suddenly put a finger up to his mouth in a gesture for him to keep silent.
"L-Luffy-san! You aren't supposed to say things like that! That guy you just insulted was Sanji, one of the most dangerous and popular guys in the whole school. He probably only let you go because you were new and didn't know that yet!"
"Hmm, really…?" Luffy almost seemed to ignore Coby as he began to walk to his locker with the shorter boy following along side of him. "He didn't seem that nice to me; it looked like he was about to beat you up too."
"W-well he was! That's just how it is around here, I guess…" the pink haired-boy kept his eyes to the ground, but made sure to keep up his pace to match Luffy's.
"Why didn't you do something then? He wasn't that dangerous."
"N-No! That's impossible! No way, no way, no way! And what do you mean he wasn't that dangerous? Didn't you see how he was about to slice your head right off?! I'm not going to get even more beat up just to feed my pride, no way!" He looked up to breath for a moment, before almost bumping right into Luffy's back and realizing that the teen had stopped walking and was now peering down at him with an expressionless glance.
"Ah, I see. That's why I don't like people like you." Without giving Coby a moment to retort back, Luffy turned his head back to the front and continued stalking off until he reached his locker. Coby, realizing that the first bell had indeed rung, ran off with a look of confusion plastered on his face.
---
Surprisingly, it wasn't as easy to find the gymnasium as Luffy had first thought. Sure, the actual room was big and probably took up about a half of the first floor, but when hidden behind doors, it looked like any regular classroom. It especially got to him how he had passed by that same room many times before taking the time to read the words 'Gym' sprawled out across the door. Luckily for him, he had managed to burst past the lining of the door frame only a moment before the second bell rung.
Since gym was his first class, it didn't surprise anyone much that the introductions were going to be kept short as the door to the boys' change room opened, revealing many teens to the spacey room. Finally, after one last banging of the door against the wall behind it, the majority of the remaining kids diverted their attention from Luffy to the door, which held a slightly aggravated Sanji standing there in black shorts and a T-shirt.
Now, to anyone that was watching, many people would've either found Luffy to be the most unfortunate little boy in the world and would probably end up running for his life on the ends of the earth, or they'd be staring at Sanji's outfit and doubling over with laughter. However, to anyone that was both watching and paying attention, it wasn't surprising when the two only gave each other passing looks before continuing on with their lives.
"Now class, settle down." A smiling man with glasses and dark hair in a ponytail gestured, causing the whole room to instantly somber down to only a few whispers. "As you may have noticed, we have a new stu-" he stopped.
"Wait a second, 10….24, 25, 26…Zoro!" He called out with very little annoyance in his voice towards the benches located on the very edge of the gym. Currently, they resided a tall sleeping well-built male with short green hair. "Aren't you participating today?"
With that, the man now known as Zoro let out a great and mighty yawn before replying.
"Nope."
"Okay, but remember that next time there's no excuse. Even if you decide to run out to sea and become a pirate wanted by the government for 120 million and follow an idiotic captain looking for some world-wide treasure, I'll still drag you back for class tomorrow; understand?" The majority of the class broke out into laughter, but a certain idiotic captain and blonde-haired teen could only raise their brows.
"Sure." He yawned again, before miraculously falling asleep within the time frame of a few moments.
"Anyways," the teacher turned back to the class, the same smile from before still planted on his face, "as I was saying, we have a new student in our class. He'll be here for a while, so let me start by introducing myself first. My name is Koshiro and I will be your physical education teacher for the rest of the semester."
"Hiya!" Luffy broke out into another grin, "I'm Luffy and I moved into this school just today. I can't wait to be in this class, you guys are all so funny!" He emphasized this by laughing and slapping the palm of his hand to the front side of his knee. Koshiro watched this with an amused smile while Luffy finally stopped laughing and looked at him with an excited glance. "Oh, by the way ponytail-Ossan; is that sword on your waist real?"
"Yes." He calmly replied.
"Whoa, that's so cool!"
"Thank you," he bowed to him slightly, "now you better get dressed and join us; you have your uniform, correct?"
"Yup; that white-haired ossan gave it to me."
"I see," he chuckled in response, "we'll be seeing you then, Luffy-kun."
"Yosh, roger!" Luffy saluted until the moment when he started dashing into the change room. Only just realizing now that the subject of the class was of a new student, Zoro opened one of his eyes with little care; but, it didn't take long before he simply yawned again and turned his body over to the direction of the wall.
'Yet another d*mn preppy teenager in this school…as if we didn't have enough of those.'
---
When the end of the day finally came, it seemed that Sanji had no further intention of confronting Luffy; Coby noted when he saw that Luffy was still alive and showed no sign of being in pain as the two met up at the front gate just outside the building. Only moments earlier, the entrance was filled with eager students wanting to get as many feet away from the school as possible, leaving the area nearly deserted other than a few waiting for their parents or catching up on their studying.
"Oi, Coby! Wait for me!" the straw hat ran up behind the nervous boy as he looked back with a friendly smile and a wave. Whatever Luffy had been so serious about back in the hallway, he seemed to have forgotten about it. 'Thank goodness…' Coby sighed. Then again, he was interested in what the taller boy meant back in the hallway, but something stinging inside his stomach preferred not to mention anything about it at this moment.
"Humph, I don't know why but the Science teacher kept me behind to talk about the year and stuff. I thought for sure I would be late!" his mouth curled into the shape of a pout as he finally slowed to a normal walk and let out a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad that I'm not too late, or else Makino would probably get mad at me again."
At this, Coby stopped into a complete halt. "M-Makino? You mean the Makino, the owner of the bar?! L-Luffy-san, please tell me you meant Makimo, that old single lady that owns 56 cats and talks about seeing ghosts all day or Nakino the famous musician with that mole on her nose, even Makimikaisupanporu! ANYTHING but Makino!"
"Ah, what's wrong with Makino?" his head spun around to look at him in confusion.
"Don't you understand? Only a handful amount of people ever even get within 10 feet of Makino, and those that do usually run away screaming and claiming that they never would again!"
"Well, she seemed pretty nice to me!" Luffy sheepishly grabbed his dangling straw hat and pushed it over on top of his head with a grin. "You're funny, you know that Coby?"
"Luffy, I'm serious!" Finally abandoning the honorific that usually lingered in his voice by habit, Coby ran up to him with his arms flailing wildly; that was how scared he was. Though, counting by whom it was, that wasn't saying too much. "Did you actually talk to Makino?"
"Yeah, I'm living with her right now."
"WHAT?! Luff-"
"Listen, Coby." The boy being addressed looked up at Luffy, realizing that he had stopped and was now standing behind him with the brim of his hat was shadowing his eyes from view. By now, the school gate was empty. "You should talk to people and make the decision for yourself before being allowed to say anything, got it?"
"U-Uh…" Silence filled the air and stung against the figures of the two boys standing beside the road as the sun slowly began to set in between them. Coby dared to sneak a peak up to see that his eyes were visible once again, and were now staring at him with an expressionless look. Why did Luffy keep getting this way around him? Now, Coby couldn't deny that some of the things he did weren't as fair as the boy in the straw hat believed they should be, but no one had ever walked up to him before and made it so apparent. It almost made him feel…bad.
The tension of the air would've lasted longer but didn't when Luffy suddenly decided to repetitively clap his hands together in a gesture that implied that something dirty was on them. He then lifted an arm and rested his hand on top of his hat, pausing slightly in spot as he turned to look to the opposite direction of the sunset with a thoughtful expression. Slowly but steadily, his face morphed from inner thought, to complete shock, to fear when he realized something.
"Ah, crap! I forgot about Makino and getting home!" As quick as light, he ran past Coby with a long slash of wind trailing behind him, causing the poor boy's glasses to fall to the side slightly as he gaped at the boy's mood swings. For a moment it seemed like Luffy was going to leave too, until he stopped halfway out of sight with his legs still in a running motion and his head turned back in Coby's direction. "See ya tomorrow, Coby! And remember what I said, too!" And with that last comment, he was gone.
The boy in now tilted glasses remained frozen for a few more seconds on the school yard, processing what had just happened. Never before in his entire life had Coby considered that there was someone in the world that could seem so…what was the word?
Fickle? Groundless? One-tracked?
Whatever it was, it very much hurt his brain to try to figure it out, yet alone deal with it. Fixing his glasses from its ridiculous position on his cheek, he sighed and straightened the bent position that his back assumed without even realizing. If all people in the world had noticed any biased behavior on his part, then Luffy was the first one that had said anything about it. Strange, you would think that after everything humans have been through, people who weren't like Luffy would've been alien, not the other way around. It slightly depressed Coby that after only knowing him for half a day; he would already think so much of him. Then again, by now, it was quite difficult to figure out what the heck his mind was thinking about right now.
Realizing that his guardian was probably going to be late again, the prepubescent boy dropped his bag to the ground and stretched his body. It had definitely been a much more frustrating day than usual, so it didn't surprise him when the stretch had ended up raising his spirits much more than he had thought. He dropped his arms back down and decided to rest beside his backpack, his recently raised spirits falling again as he realized that it was once again the end of the school day. The familiar sense of fear filled him, but was shrugged off as thoughts about earlier that day came back to him.
"N-No! That's impossible! No way, no way, no way! And what do you mean he wasn't that dangerous? Didn't you see how he was about to slice your head right off?! I'm not going to get even more beat up just to feed my pride, no way!"
"Ah, I see. That's why I don't like people like you."
"Don't you understand? Only a handful amount of people ever even get within 10 feet of Makino, and those that do usually run away screaming and claiming that they never would again!"
"Listen, Coby. You should talk to people and make the decision for yourself before being allowed to say anything, got it?"
'Make the decision for myself?' He sighed for the second time that evening while looking down at his crossed feet, a confused glance grazing across his face. Before long, a slight smile reached him as he found himself chuckling at the thought. 'I guess…that would be nice.'
"Coby, what are you doing just sitting there?"
His thoughts stopped when that same sensation of fear slipped across his entire body. Greatly drowning out his previous feelings of resolve, he instantly shot up to look timidly at the woman that had somehow managed to slip beside him without notice. She looked at him suspiciously and grunted a bit in disgust before throwing down two large clothed bundles at his feet.
"Stop gaping and hurry up, Coby. We have another trip to make before getting back to the apartment."
He nodded quickly and proceeded to pick up the two bags, stopping only to swing his school backpack around his shoulder incase he were to forget it. As his hands struggled to keep the rough bundles up, he didn't fail to notice the unusual bulging that stuck out through the cloth, as well as the sound of metal clinging together in discomfort as he stood. Suddenly, it became all too clear to him why she was late picking him up from school.
"Hai, Alvida-sama."
---
Luffy pouted grumpily as he continued wiping the damp clothe over a dirty table that sat at the corner of the room. The quality of the soap was evident as multiple squeaking noises emerged from the contact. 'I don't get it! I was only a couple minutes late but the lady just had to make me wipe all the tables and stuff.' Making one last 'humph' noise to clearly emphasize his frustration, he gave the countertop one last wipe and walked away to continue his work on the next area, not noticing the noise of a 'crack' as the table he just worked on split into two behind him.
"Luffy."
"I'm working on the tables just like you told me to, Makino! Don't start complaining at me again."
"Well, it's not that! You broke the table."
"NANI?! AGAIN?!"
Out of exasperation, Makino smacked the palm of her hand to her forehead while giving a great sigh. She could only be so grateful that they weren't particularly having that many costumers at the bar today, as the ones that were there had already ran out of fear that Luffy would split their table as well. After all that, she was seriously starting to doubt whether it was a good idea in the first place.
"Listen Luffy-kun, I think you can take a break now." At hearing that, the grumpy mood that the addressed boy in the white apron had immediately vanished as he grinned and started making his way to the front counter where Makino stood.
"Thank goodness! I thought I was going to die if I worked any longer without any meat!" When he finally reached the counter, he jumped up over one of the stools before landing on it with an eager look on his face. "Makino! MEAT!"
"Hold on, I'm getting it." She gave him a small smile, one that would've been easily missed if anyone were to not be looking at her intently, before turning around to the fridge and reaching into the large box that was clearly labeled 'Meat'. "So, how was school today?"
"Ah, it was okay. Guess what? There was this guy with a swirly eyebrow in my gym class, it looked really cool! And another guy with earrings that slept all the time!" He made another motion to slap his knee hysterically while laughing, but stopped when a steaming bowl of meat was presented in front of him.
Makino turned back around as Luffy's ramblings about the day were quickly muffled out by the sound of meat entering his jaw line. However, counting by what she did hear from the boy, it baffled her what kind of students were attending the school, and what kind of school it was to let students like that study there. Sure, there were men who were using hooks for their hands in her class back when she was going to East Blue Secondary School, but a boy with a swirly eyebrow just went beyond anything of the toleration she developed in her 4 years of attending. Well, at least she could rest assure that the school's reputation for oddity was still alive and healthy, whether that was a good thing or not.
It came as no shock to her when the large 15inchX15inch dish she left for him was gone within moments and the culprit peacefully lunged back at having a full stomach. Smiling in slight amusement, she took the crystal clean plate away from the countertop and dropped it into the sink along with the other dirty utensils. She turned on the tap that overhung the sink, only just noticing that Luffy had fallen asleep with his head resting on the table.
If someone were to walk up to her at that moment and ask her why she was so willing to take in a boy like that and to feed him so richly, she wouldn't have been able to answer. At least, not in a way that she believed anyone else would really understand. Luffy was simply different, and she'd leave it at that.
"No memories, huh?"
"Nope! Not a single one!" The boy in the straw hat and red vest replied without any hesitation, which was shocking counting by the amount of meat that was stuffed into his mouth.
"Really? Then how did you tell me your name?"
Luffy swallowed the seemingly gigantic mouthful as a look of thought crossed his face. "I dunno. I just know that my name's Luffy, that's all." He shrugged it off like it was nothing, before resting his back against the chair he sat in, stretching his arms out in satisfaction at being full. He clicked his tongue to swallow the last taste of meat and pushed his hat back forward so it rested on his head once again. Standing up, he directed a large grin in Makino's direction.
"Ah, that was good! Well, thanks a lot for the meat Makino!" He dusted himself off while standing up before making his way back out the door, his now clearly bulging belly being rubbed gratefully by one of his hands. "I'll be going now!"
"Wait a second, boy." She paused for a moment as a sweet smile crossed her lips when Luffy stopped halfway through the door to look back at her with an expressionless glance; what was she doing? Although he was completely oblivious to it, just taking him into her bar after hours and giving him a free meal was not only jumping over the edge, but it defied all laws of humanity. Then again, she had seen him K.O that muscular crook without even trying, apparently wanting to 'break in' on the restaurant. He had made absolutely nothing of it when he revealed that to her, so it only made her curious as to how strong he actually was. If he really was as dangerous and yet gullible as he seemed, having someone like that working for her would definitely work to her advantage.
"You said that you're living by yourself, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Well, I saw you beat up that criminal in one punch. I think it'll be interesting if you worked for me in exchange for living here." A strange silence filled the air between them as Luffy's expressionless look didn't cease.
"No."
"Huh?"
"I said 'no'." Makino's eyes widened slightly, but quickly reverted themselves back as she looked at him again, this time, with a concerned look. She knew it, there was no way someone as strong as him was a clueless as he seemed.
"Hmm? Sorry, but do you mind telling me why?"
"Well, just like I have no reason to fight you, I have no reason to stay and you have no reason to keep me here." She analyzed the frown on his face with one of her own as that slight hint of concern still failed to leave her eyes. What on earth had he meant by that? Why would he have a reason to fight her? It didn't take long for it to come to her that he wasn't as oblivious as he seemed.
"Yeah, I do. I said before that it'd be interesting to have someone like you working for me."
"That's true, you did say that, and what's your reason for that?"
"What are you…? Listen, I don't need a reason to think that."
"Then, I don't need a reason for leaving." And with that, Luffy trailed out the door. For the next few moments, Makino wasn't sure what overtook her as thoughts of what just happened ran across her mind. Realizing that he'd be out of sight soon if she sat there too long, she hastily stood up, knocking down the table in front of her in the process. She ran towards the door and slammed it open, despite one or two people on the street giving her a strange look.
"W-Wait!"
Makino sighed as the last dish was dried and placed upon the dish rack beside her. Yes, she was originally planning to use his strength to her advantage; though, it only just came to her now how much she really would've regretted doing such a thing. Even now, she wasn't too sure why it was so important back then that he should know the reason why. No matter how hard she tried to figure it out before, only one valid possibility came, and that was that he was definitely not some idiotic kid.
She had to admit, Luffy did have a way of changing someone's state of mind.
Maybe she could give the kid just one day off.
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6,754 words without Author's note
Yes, I know that Makino's probably out of character, but we haven't actually seen too much of her in the series. I wouldn't like to believe that she's a regular table maid, at least not in this version. Don't worry; I'll try to keep everybody else in character.
As for the 'Timantha Returns' story…to be honest, I'm kind of shocked at how my writing used to be like a couple years ago. Right now, I'm trying to test out this new style I've developed but in order to do that, I'd have to try writing a more action and adventure based story than what 'Timantha Returns' has turned into. I'm sorry for those of you who don't watch One Piece and would rather read a new chapter of my other two stories (which I haven't updated in the past year and a half). I'm kind of suspicious myself if I would finish this story, but I believe that I can.
~ CupidKirby (TwisterKirby)